Groupon Debuts Admin Assistant Program

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In the spirit of Groupon's stock climbing to $21.15 -- higher than yesterday (or in the last two weeks, for that matter) -- we're going to accentuate the positive Thursday.

The company has a new administrative assistant product.

Merchants in Miami and Sacramento are acting as pilots for Groupon's latest feature, Groupon Scheduler.

We could sum up what the tools does for you, but Groupon's VP and GM of Retail Solutions David Katz probably knows its features a bit better, he described it aptly in a blog post Wednesday on Groublogpon, and, oh yeah, strangely, Chicago was overlooked for the pilot period. Weird. Anyway, here's Katz:

Groupon Scheduler grew out of technology from our September 2011 acquisition of OpenCal, an innovative company founded in 2009 by product designers Arash Shiva and Simon Vallee in Vancouver, Canada. We recognized that there were thousands of appointment-based Groupon merchants looking for a simple way to implement online scheduling. Groupon Scheduler can accommodate schedules for different employees, services, and business locations, allowing consumers to book appointments without having to call or email.

This could be first step towards consumers being able to redeem Groupons without actually leaving their house.

Come on Groupon, unveil a feature that will make that happen. The shut-in agoraphobic sushi-enthusiast market is clamoring for it from deep within their caves.

David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a columnist for EGM. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.